Sarah Marince – “In The Meantime”

Debuting nationally last week via Blair Garner’s national radio program After Midnight, unsigned singer Sarah Marince has her first national chart hit in “In The Meantime.” Will this song, written and produced by well-known Nashville writers, become a breakout hit for

Have you ever wondered why the music charts are dominated with major record label artists and rarely, if ever feature unsigned or tiny label artists? Well, the answer is simple; it takes a lot of money. It takes the kind of money most people don’t have. It’s not for paying radio stations to play it (that’s illegal) but to pay a team of promoters to get radio’s attention about the merits of your song and unless you’re from one of those major companies, it’s still hard to get the attention of radio. So – then – what do we make of the case of Sarah Marince, a 20 year-old from Pittsburgh who managed to get this song not only on the radio across the country but also on the Top 50 of the country charts this week, just behind Rascal Flatt’s first Big Machine Records single “Why Wait.”

How did she do it? By making relationships with the right people, from songwriter/producer Victoria Shaw to radio’s After Midnight host Blair Garner. Written by Shaw, Gary Burr and Stealing Angels’ Caroline Cutbirth, “In The Meantine” serves up a bit of real world advice to ‘tween and teenage girls who are want to grow up fast. The lyrics find Sara Marince telling them that they’ll grow up but ‘in the meantime’ they’ll do stupid things, hate their parents, swim against the tide, criticize their bodies, etc. but it basically says that everything will work out and that learning to laugh and love is what will help them get through. This is the kind of song that is easily digested by radio and it’s not unlike Emma Jacob’s “Julianna” from last year.

Vocally Sara Marince has a strong voice that recalls the ranginess of Faith Hill with all of the emotion required to sell such a ‘wisdom’ song like “In The Meantime.” Add that to the strong production from Victoria Shaw and what we have here is a song that’s clearly as good – if not better than – many of the recordings released by the major labels. That’s a fantastic thing for Sara Marince and I’d be surprised if a record label doesn’t come calling and offer her some sort of record deal. “In The Meantime” is an immediate hit and it’s certainly not the final time we’ll be hearing from Sara Marince.